


Found Family

by tenderguns



Category: At Dead Of Night (Video Game)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Family Fluff, Ficlet, Harvey is a bad cook, Harvey making soup for his picky eater son, Mother-Son Relationship, Other, Rose is such a mama bear, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-05
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-18 16:42:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29861043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tenderguns/pseuds/tenderguns
Summary: In which everyone is sick except for Harvey, so naturally he becomes the appointed soup-bringer.cw: 'Harv's Steak Surprise' ???
Relationships: Harvey & the Hall family, Rose Hall/Harvey (implied), The Hall Family
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	Found Family

The end of January had let a final bout of fever loose in the Hall household, and now its last victory cry beat against the stairwell window in the form of a storm. Harvey, the first to recover, and thus the delegated butler, grumbled as he shouldered open the door and stepped out onto the third floor. All three of them had been utterly useless at first, when they were all taken sick, all complaining and lolling around over each other, but he almost missed not having to drag trays of soup and water and hot sweet tea from floor to floor. Sure, he’d gotten some bragging rights over his quick recovery - _“It’s all those long clifftop walks, Rose, you ought to start making a habit of ‘em when you’re well, for your health,”_ – but this was short-lived. All those long clifftop walks were fair practice for traipsing across the whole hotel not an hour after dinner, all because Jimmy decided _canned_ cream of chicken would suit his delicate sensibilities more than the hearty broth he’d spent hours on. Even Rose hadn’t touched much of hers, giving the same drained _ooh, lovely_ that Jimmy got when he brought home a drawing from reception school. As if ‘Harv’s Steak Surprise’ was the culinary equivalent of the arse-backwards hell-beasts Jimmy spent no more than a minute on.

He shifted the tray into the crook of one arm, balancing it on his splayed palm as he entered Jimmy’s room. The cover was pulled back from the mattress, the pillows strewn slightly, and the boy wasn’t there. In his discomfort he must have gone to his mother. Harvey retreated slowly and locked the door behind him, moving carefully down the hall towards Rose’s room instead. When he’d left he’d heard the quiet hush of her voice and Jimmy’s sleepy giggle through the wall, but there was silence as he entered again.

The aged lamps cast a dim sepia tone over the whole room, giving it the dusty palette of an early film adaptation of some quaint old novel. Swaddled in the quilted duvet, the two lightly dozing faces were warmed in the faded glow. All of the shadows in the room were drawn into the dark tangle of their mingling hair. The soft, sheer fabric of Rose’s billowing nightgown sleeves swaddled Jimmy’s body close to hers. The boy’s nose, red with fever and still snub with youth, mirrored his mother’s in profile.

Harvey suddenly wished desperately for a camera in this moment. The anxious furrows of Rose’s face were smoothed by sleep. Free from worry, she was fresh as the first premature snowdrops of the year. Tears sprung into his eyes and froze there. He blinked them back, a little astounded. _They’re sleeping, you sentimental sod._

“Rise and shine, invalids,” he said, setting the tray of food and drink on the bedside table and sitting beside Rose’s hunched back on the bed. They both stirred a little at the dip of the mattress, and he laid a hand on her shoulder as gently as he could. Turning her head an increment, curiously, Rose experimentally opened an eye. Seeing Harvey there, she twisted fully to face him, smiling weakly up at him. At the absence of his mother’s arms, Jimmy let out a cross little huff, burrowing his head between her shoulder blades, seeking closeness again. She reached an arm up and back as best she could, ruffling his wild hair. “Jim-Jam, say thank you to Harvey for bringing you some dinner.”

“Fank you Daddy Harvey,” came the small smothered grumble.

“Daddy Harvey,” Rose amended, grinning sleepily at Harvey. She knew he never got tired of remembering that he was, in fact, a father. He smiled back. Even though they weren’t together – not exactly, not yet – they were parents. And it felt unimaginably good to be part of a team.


End file.
